Written By Robert Nathan
Directed By Jud Taylor
A Bronx District Attorney is found dead in his car and while the detectives initially suspect a prostitute is the killer, new evidence eventually reveals it is someone closer to home and that their victim isn't as straight as they initially thought.
Tropes
- Armoured Closet Gay: Closeted gay Bronx D.A. Jeff York is found murdered in his car. They exhaust the list of their suspects until they land on his black male coworker. Fin then explains the phenomenon of being on the "down-low" in the African-American community. They investigate the coworker's poker group, and, sure enough, they are all "on the down-low" and have sex with each other when they are supposedly playing poker. One of the friends, a former football player, actually refuses to testify after revealing this because he does not want to tarnish his image while vehemently denying that he's gay in a homophobic manner.
- Blackmail: Abbott's defense attorney threatens to have Casey face a disciplinary committee for disclosing the HIV status. He drops the threat of the committee after Casey offers a deal.Casey: Man one, seven-and-a-half to fifteen. He allocutes, and only the plea and the sentence go on the record.
- Internalized Categorism: The focus of the episode is on very closeted gay black men. It's discussed between Fin and the other detectives. He explains that African-American culture strongly rejects being gay, hence they get married and pretend to be straight like other men. Most refuse to admit they're gay (even when admitting they have sex with men), and thus display internalized homophobia to varying degrees (in most cases passive, with one vehement, while voicing homophobic slurs).
- No Bisexuals: The episode is all about a group of black men who have sex with each other on the side behind their wives' back. Despite that premise, not once is the idea of bisexuality brought up, even in passing, and any mention of the possibility of sex with men leads to the cast (particularly Elliot) to downright state that only gays are capable of it. This episode was based on the real life phenomenon of being "on the down low" in the African-American community, and people on the down-low likewise rarely admit to being anything but 100% straight.
- ...Or So I Heard: Fin, casually explaining what being "on the down low" means:" It's different for black men. They go out, have sex with other men, then come home, have sex with their woman, and pretend they're straight. (awkward stares from Benson, Cragen, and Stabler) Don't look at me, I just know stuff.
- Rule of Three: Regarding a Bronx case, a small-time dealer got away with murder the first two times. Abbott even says "third time's the charm".
- Shaped Like Itself: When Fin tears into DuShawn's "Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?" argument with just one simple statement.DuShawn: I am not gay! I have relationships with women... and sex with men.
Fin: And I got news for you: That means you're gay. - Straight Gay: All of the gay characters act the same as straight guys. This is not surprising since they're all really deep in the closet.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: More than two, but the detectives ask different people about the connection between McGovern and Abbott.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Casey tells Mary-Ellen that Jeff was HIV-positive and Andy might be too, so she might want to get tested. Huang told her from the start "absolutely not". The Manhattan DA also calls her out and so does Abbott's attorney.
